


To Break and To Mend

by dixiehellcat



Series: Tony Stark Bingo Round 4 [11]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: (not the same pair), Break Up, Break Up and Make Up, Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Ironhusbands, M/M, Major Character Injury, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:09:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29100066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dixiehellcat/pseuds/dixiehellcat
Summary: They say, whenever one door closes, another opens. Sometimes, though, one door may close so that another can be reopened.Fills the "Major Injuries" square on my Round 4 Tony Stark Bingo card number 4028. (required info collected below)
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark
Series: Tony Stark Bingo Round 4 [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2009245
Comments: 8
Kudos: 54
Collections: Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV





	To Break and To Mend

**Author's Note:**

> Bingo specifics:  
> Title: To Break and To Mend  
> Author: deehellcat  
> Card Number: 4028  
> Link (AO3, Tumblr, etc.) https://archiveofourown.org/works/29100066  
> Square Filled (Letter AND number AND prompt) S5, major injuries  
> Ship/Main Pairing: Ironhusbands  
> Rating (Gen, Teen, Mature, Explicit) teen for a couple of cuss words  
> Major Tags/Warnings/Triggers: Break Up, Break Up and Make Up, (not the same pair), Secret Relationship, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Major Character Injury, Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Ironhusbands  
> Summary: They say, whenever one door closes, another opens. Sometimes, though, one door may close so that another can be reopened.  
> Word Count: 520

Tony told Steve he and Pepper were on a break. He didn’t say why; didn’t say that she had finally called him out on the secret he had kept from everyone for years. _You’re in love with Rhodey, you’ve been in love with Rhodey as long as I’ve known you_ , she had said. _I can’t keep pretending I can replace him in your heart, and neither can you._

Of course, he hadn’t told her the truth either: that he and Rhodey had dated, back in the day, but that the strain of being forced by the military to keep any whiff of their relationship a secret then had torn them apart. So now, as he flew into Germany with a hastily assembled team at his back to bring in Steve and his merry band of renegades, he was really alone. Rhodey had his back, as he always did; but when things went horribly wrong, when a series of unforeseeable accidents had left Rhodey lying motionless on the ground, Tony hadn’t had _his_ back.

Tony hadn’t had Rhodey’s back, and now, Rhodey’s back was broken, his legs useless, his career as Air Force and as War Machine over. The only person who could do something about it was Tony, and he threw himself into the work, refusing to relent until he had created supports that would let Rhodey walk again. “You don’t have to do this, Tones,” Rhodey had said in the wee hours of yet another morning when he had rolled his wheelchair into the compound workshop and found Tony barely conscious. “Is it some kind of misplaced guilt? Because this was not your fault, man, you’ve gotta know that—”

“It’s not guilt,” Tony said, fatigue and grief forcing down the filters between his brain and his mouth. “It’s love. I love you, Rhodey. I never stopped. If we can’t be together, if having to stay on the down-low for so long wrecked any chance we might have had, I—I have to accept that. But dammit, I don’t have to make myself stop loving you, because the only way that’s going to happen is when I’m dead.”

He strove to focus his eyes, blurry from weariness and tears unshed, on the circuit lying before him, until he felt Rhodey touch his leg. “You mean that?”

“Hell yes, I mean that.”

“Look at me.” The tone was an order, and Tony could not stop himself from turning. Rhodey crooked his finger. “C’mere, get in my face, and tell me that again.”

Figuring he was about to get slugged in the nose, and almost eager for it, Tony bent until he was so close to that beloved face he could feel his breath. “I love you,” he enunciated. “I will always love you, whether you ever love me again, or not. Doesn’t matter—”

His words were cut short when a strong hand curled around the back of his neck and pulled him those last inches into a kiss seasoned with the salt of tears. “You fucking idiot,” Rhodey growled around sniffles when he let go. “I never stopped loving you either.”


End file.
